*2.2. Research Framework*

The framework of PLES simulation and identification of spatial conflict of PLES in the Yellow River Basin is as follows:

Step 1: Simulation of PLES distribution pattern in the Yellow River Basin in 2025 based on the CA–Markov model;

Step 2: Analysis of the spatio-temporal patterns of PLES in the Yellow River Basin from 2010 to 2025;

Step 3: Quantification of the spatial conflict of PLES in the Yellow River Basin from 2010 to 2025 using the Spatial Conflict Composite Index evaluation method of landscape ecology and evaluation of the degree of spatial conflict of PLES and its spatio-temporal pattern.

#### *2.3. Data Sources and PLES Classification*

The vector data of the boundaries of the Yellow River, Yellow River Basin, tertiary water resource divisions, and the land-use raster data of the Yellow River Basin in 2010, 2015, and 2018 were provided by the Resource and Environment Science and Data Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (https://www.resdc.cn/, accessed on 10 March 2022). The land-use data of the Yellow River Basin have a spatial resolution of 30 m × 30 m. Land-use types included 6 primary types—namely, arable land, forest land, grassland, waters, residential land, and unused land—and 25 secondary types.

Considering the multifunctional complexity of spatial resources, the same space resource may have one or more complex functions, including functions related to production, living, and ecology. In this research, the PLES classification of the Yellow River Basin was formed by referring to the current research results of other scholars on PLES classification [44,59,60], integrating and reclassifying the existing land-use types based on the actual situation of the Yellow River Basin, and forming the PLES classification in accordance with the classification principles of dominant and secondary functions, which contains living–production space (LPS), production–ecological space (PES), ecological–production space (EPS), and ecological space (ES), as shown in Table 1.

**Table 1.** PLES classification.

